Faculty-Parent Book Talk

Science teacher Ms. Ruby Disko and English teacher Mr. Ethan Pennington presented Daniel Goleman’s book Emotional Intelligence to the Parent’s Association on the evening of Wednesday, March 9, in the York Prep library. Dr. Goleman is an author, psychologist, and science journalist who reported on the brain and behavioral sciences for The New York Times for twelve years. Emotional Intelligence was an international hit, having sold more than 5 million copies and remaining on the New York Times bestseller list for over a year. Goleman argues that emotions play a greater role in thought, decision making, and individual success than we commonly acknowledge. He defines “emotional intelligence” as trait not measured by IQ tests, as a set of skills, including control of one’s impulses, self-motivation, empathy and social competence in interpersonal relationships.

In discussing Dr. Goleman’s book, Ms. Disko and Mr. Pennington focused on the emotional aspects of teaching and learning, like managing emotions and modeling this for struggling learners. Other faculty members were invited to join in on the discussion to contribute their experiences with emotion in the classroom. According to Mr. Pennington, teachers foster relationships, empathize, and strategize ways to motivate individual learners every day, and thus could greatly benefit from the ideas in this particular book.

However, those who missed out on this insightful discussion may look forward to the fact that the Parent’s Association is planning to continue with these types of events and will likely have two more book talks this spring.